


Nightmare Choice

by Anaya_of_Wolves



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Ardyn may be influencing Noct's nightmares, Chocobros Cuddles, Choices in Who to Save, Electrocution, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Nightmares, Platonic Cuddling, Short One Shot, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-06 01:21:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21218201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anaya_of_Wolves/pseuds/Anaya_of_Wolves
Summary: Noctis has a really bad nightmare.  It's one that he has to make a choice in who to save, which ultimately proves to be the worst subjected nightmare he could endure.  Because there is no choice he could make besides to save them all.Thankfully, there are cuddles from those he care about the most afterwards.





	Nightmare Choice

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I don't know why I got the idea to give Noct some bad dreams, but I figure it wouldn't be that long to write. Especially since that I don't want to see him or the chocobros really hurt. Just some good ole H/C for the soul.

"Choose one. Only one, your highness, to save."

The taunting voice echoed out in the darkened room, reverberating off the walls, floors, and within Noct's bones. The place around him looked abandoned and ruined. Machinery of some nature and use laid in parts or nearly completed around. Not a living soul in sight, and the threat of a daemon spawning from the darkness extremely high.

A place, the prince was sure, one he had never wanted to find himself in.

Especially not now, having to make this choice.

"I won't choose!" Noct yelled out, summoning his blade from the Armiger and preparing to warp over to the nearest trapped person to set them free.

No, not just any "person," one of his retinue and closest friends.

Each one was held upright and had their arms outstretched up at their sides. Their heads tilted forward with their chins resting against their chests, and eyes shut. Noctis blessedly hoped they were not conscious for any of this.

Because he didn't want to see in their faces what their reactions would be.

"Tsk, tsk," the haunting phantom voice came from nowhere and couldn't be traced to a source for Noct to find, irritating him further. "That's a poor choice then, your _highness_. Because an indecisive monarch is a failure of royal blood."

Noct bit back the words _How would you feel in my place?!_ when he heard the starting hum of some machinery. His eyes darted around and raised his sword, preparing for a fight against whichever machine wanted a fight. He would fight an army to keep his friends safe from further harm that could befall them.

But it was when Noct could feel the _electric _charge in the air that his eyes widen in belated horror at what that could be.

"NO!" Noct yelled out, reaching out with his free hand and taking a step closer to his three friends as each one was subjected to an electric current of shock through their bodies.

All three convulsed, backs arching off whatever kept them up. Their heads were thrown up as sounds were ripped from their throats. Prompto screamed a blood-chilling scream of pain and thrashed wildly. Ignis groaned out his yells, shaking his head as the shocking continued. Gladio appeared to have tried to hold back yelling out, but the waves of pain were too much for the Shield to endure.

Noct watched in horror still, unable to move or to breathe. He nearly dropped his sword as the screams and yells of pain rung in his ears like it was the only thing he could hear now.

Maybe it would be after this.

"Stop! Stop please! Stop hurting them!" Noct begged out, swaying on his feet before falling to his knees, "Hurt me instead! Please, I'm begging you to just STOP!"

The shocking lasted for a few more seconds, before the electrocution stopped. None of them moved afterwards. Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio hung there limply, without a twitch of movement or sign of immediate life. Not even Noct moved, still on his knees with tears gathered in his eyes. The tips of his fingers were raw, having scrapped them against the rough floor in a failed attempt of crawling his way over to them.

Now, he sat there and waited, gasping out short breaths.

Had his pleas worked? Could he save them?

He would do anything to save them. They were all he had left after everything-

"Well then," the hauntingly haughty voice drawled out, without a twinge of remorse that still set the prince on edge, "I suppose I shall feel bad about _this_."

Noct's eyes went wide, scrambling to push himself up and over to the guys before whatever "this" was. He had to save them before that! Because he was their friend, and they would save him.

But he only got a few strides forward before the sound of a winding charge filled the air, and then--

Noctis gasped awake, eyes snapping open as his whole body jerked up. There was a darkness around him, suffocating him and keeping him held tight like a vicegrip. He propped himself forward, still trying to reach the others that his mind still believed was trapped and about to be-

"Noct, buddy!"

"Woah! What's goin' on?!"

"Noctis!"

Three voices that Noct had thought he would only hear screaming filled his ears and managed to stop him from getting tangled up in the bedsheets. His body was still in that instinctual movement to try and save the friends whose worried faces looked at him now. Someone must have turned on the light, because Noct could then see in the dim motel lamp light confused and extremely worried looks in all three faces staring at him.

Ignis, sitting at his left and mostly the one who turned on the light, frowned at the fearful, panicked look on Noct's face. "Noct, what's wrong? Are you alright?"

Noct, on the other hand, could not speak to answer his adviser back. All he could do was stare at him and remember how Ignis sounded as he had been tortured due to Noct's inability to save them. That haunted his thoughts, awake and to recall each of those painful thrashing.

"Noct, buddy, you gotta say something."

Noct's head turned away from Ignis, seeing the worry he heard in Prompto's voice on his face. Gladio looked mildly worried too, though clearly holding back as to be the strength he might need. Noct stared at them, already overlaying the looks of pain on their faces to the concerned ones now.

How could he tell them that he had failed saving them in his dreams- no, his _nightmares_?

Noct couldn't.

With his silence stretching further on, those sitting up next to him in the cramped motel bed glanced to one another over their prince's shaking shoulders and came to a similar thought. Arms moving to wrap around Noctis, each one pressed close against him and held tight to the young man they all swore to protect. 

Even from his nightmares, so be it.

Noct still sat there in the bed, surrounded by the warmth of those he cared about pressing close against him, and felt that the nightmares had to be wrong. That he wouldn't and couldn't freeze up and fail in protecting them. Because, as much as they had his back and swore to be at his side, Noctis knew that he would be the one to keep them safe too. 

Their strength was his strength. They were kept him grounded and focused on the task at hand, the bigger picture of his destiny. Nothing could keep him from fulfilling his role with them at his side, nor keep him from doing whatever it took to keep them there.

No matter the cost, he would pay in a heartbeat for them.


End file.
